Mark Consuelos Talks Replacing Ryan Seacrest as Co-Host of ‘Live’ With Kelly Ripa, Marriage Counseling and Virtual Sex

Welcome to this weeks Just for Variety.

Mark Consuelos doesnt mind hand-me-downs from Ryan Seacrest. Consuelos tells me hes inheriting Seacrests dressing room when Live With Kelly and Ryan becomes Live With Kelly and Mark on April 17. Im no dummy, Consuelos says on this weeks episode of the Just for Variety podcast. Ryan is very fancy hes got fancy stuff.

At the same time it was announced in February that Seacrest was leaving Live, it was revealed that Consuelos will replace him as his wife Kelly Ripas co-host on the syndicated daytime talk show. The first conversations started with like, That is the worst idea ever,

Consuelos recalls. Kelly and I were like, Yeah, thats insane. Why would we do that? Then I was like, Well, I have filled in a lot over the past few years. She goes, You have.

As Varietys Elizabeth Wagmeister first reported in March in a cover profile of Ripa for the annual Power of Women issue, the longtime hosts deal now sits at about $20 million a year. Consuelos says of his pay, This is my first contract on the job, so I shouldnt make anywhere near what she makes. Im the newbie, so yeah, I wont be playing hardball for sure.

And he wont be discussing their sex life on Live. Ripa opened up, during her recently launched Lets Talk Off Camera With Kelly Ripa podcast, about how she and Consuelos engage in virtual sex when hes out of town. She is an open book, Consuelos says, explaining he thinks thats one reason audiences have stayed with her for 22 years of Live. Then he adds, I definitely do not think well be talking about that from 9 to 10 a.m. on Mondays through Fridays.

It was on the same podcast that they revealed that they go to couples therapy. We didnt go into marriage counseling because we were in any kind of crisis, Consuelos explains. There were two things that were happening, one was that we became empty-nesters and then the job came up. I said, What a great time for us to have a good reset on how we communicateWouldnt it be a great time?

Consuelos says the show will become a full nepo production by possibly having his and Ripas three kids appear on the show. Consuelos and Ripa have been married for about 27 years. They started dating when they were both on All My Children. I think weve joked about it, he says. Michael, our 25-year-old, would be hysterical. Id love to see him with Kelly. Lola, shes a dynamo, she would be amazing. Joaquin is a little bit more reserved, and I think hed probably opt out.

Find out what happened during Consuelos early days in New York that prompted him to almost quit acting by listening to the full interview on Just for Variety above or wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

Marcus Mumford at the premiere of Daisy Jones The Six held at TCL Chinese Theatre on February 23, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Michael Buckner for Variety Marcus Mumford may have created music for Ted Lasso and Daisy Jones the Six, but that doesnt mean hes itching to start acting. Im good. Im married to an actor, says Mumford, whose wife is Carey Mulligan. Ive seen enough of what goes on behind the camera. Im never doing that fucking thing in my life. No chance!

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Seth Rogen and Steven Spielberg attend the 75th Directors Guild of America Awards at The Beverly Hilton on February 18, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) Seth Rogen promises that he hasnt tried to get Steven Spielberg to smoke weed. The Oscar-winning director made headlines when he told me at the Palm Springs International Film Festival that hes never gotten stoned. Then Jimmy Kimmel referenced the never-toker while hosting the Oscars last month. I never will try to get him to smoke, Rogen told me at the Super Mario Bros. Movie premiere. I dont want to be the guy who breaks his brain. If he does, God bless him, but Im not going to be the guy who pressures him to do it.

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